


Thief in the night

by m_findlow



Category: Torchwood
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2019-03-09 14:36:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13483560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/m_findlow/pseuds/m_findlow
Summary: Jack is concerned about things being stolen





	Thief in the night

'Why does nothing ever decide to come through the rift at a normal hour?' Owen complained. 'Eleven am would be perfect. Get there, sort it out, and be back in time for lunch. But no, instead it's four in the sodding morning.'

'Feel free to forward your complaints to the rift department. I'm sure they'll give yours as much consideration as they give mine,' Jack replied, thinking back on how warm and snug he'd been in his own bed, his handsome Welshman tucked up against him.

The drive took them across town, heading for the suburban outskirts, where countryside began to encroach on houses, or perhaps it was the other way around.

'Pull up just over here,' Tosh said, reviewing the scans. 'This is as close as we can get in the car.' Jack brought the SUV to a stop in the gravel by the side of the road.

'It landed in a paddock?' Gwen asked, making out the rickety stump and wire fencing running along the road, and the lazy green that spread out in all directions. 'That was lucky.'

'Or not,' Owen added, 'depending on how small this thing is.'

'It's not that small,' Tosh confirmed, adjusting her readings. 'Probably looking for something just smaller than a hatchback.'

Jack was up and over the fence before the first of them could argue, slowly clambering over it themselves and following in his wake.

 

Jack had his torch in hand, cutting through what was still mostly night, roving it left and right as he made long strides across the paddock, headed towards a noise. Halfway across he spotted the source, a lone horse whinnying and snorting, clearly upset by something. Jack slowed his pace, stepping forward tentatively against its frightened protests, trying to break free from its post where it had been housed for the night. He reached up for the makeshift rope bridle, gripping it firm.

'Shh, shh, shh. Easy girl,' he intoned, pocketing his torch and reaching up his spare hand to stroke the mare's neck, soothing its panicked bucking until it finally settled. He gave one last pat of its nose before continuing past it.

'What's he a sodding horse whisperer now? Never mind the aliens, so long as the local livestock are happy,' Owen muttered, receiving a giggle from Gwen.

The item ahead of them glinted from their torchlight long before it finally came into view, gleaming like a big silver ladybug.

'Spaceship?' Gwen asked.

'Two man cruiser,' Jack confirmed.

'Two man?' Owen said. 'Doesn't look big enough for one.'

'Not everything in this universe has your imposing stature, Owen,' Jack replied, grinning in a mocking way.

'Nor an ego the size of yours,' he snarked back.

'Check for survivors,' he said, ignoring the jibe.

Owen stepped closer to the hulk that had smoke rising in thin tendrils from various panels, dented from the impact. On the whole, it looked to be in good condition though, considering it had crashed into a paddock in Wales from God only knew where.

'Nothing, boss,' Owen declared, checking his PDA for life signs.

'Ianto, help me with this panel,' Jack said, indicating for him to grab the other side, pulling hard until it finally hissed open.

'Age before beauty,' he said gesturing.

'Only because you know you won't fit,' Ianto grinned.

'Did you just call me fat?'

'Broad chested,' he replied, before shoving his upper body through the narrow hatch, shining his own torch around.

'See anything?'

'Empty. No bodies. Looks abandoned.' He reached over the tiny seat and the console sparked, hitting his hand with a minor electrical jolt. 'Ow,' he cried, pulling away sharply.

'What's wrong? You okay?'

'Fine. I think the ship took more of a battering than we thought.' He pulled himself back out before it decided to electrocute him properly.

'Okay, see if you can bring up a ship's log to find out what happened. Gwen, Owen and I will search the area in case the passengers survived and went for aid or shelter nearby.'

'Shall I call for a lorry?'

'No need,' Jack replied. He grabbed the back end of the ship with both hands and lifted, before setting it back down, demonstrating its weight. 'Anti-gravity alloy. We'll be able to carry it back to the car and load it on the roof.'

They trekked around the surrounding paddocks and hillside for over an hour, watching as dawn rose overhead, but there were no signs of any ship's survivors having left to find help. Tosh didn't have any luck either, trying to get access to the ships logs. The whole internal console was flicking and sparking wildly, and it was Ianto who'd pulled her out, declaring it too dangerous.

'Okay, let's pack it up then,' Jack said, once they'd returned. 'We've already got plenty on for the next few days, assuming the rift doesn't add to it, so the mystery of an empty ship will have to wait. Tosh? Think you can quell your curiosity?'

'I'm sure I can manage,' she replied.

 

Ianto felt a guilt settling in the pit of his stomach as he knocked on the door to Jack's office.

'Ianto! What took you so long?'

Right. Time to fess up. He sucked in a deep breath.

'I couldn't find it, sir.'

Jack paused and looked at him. 'What do you mean you couldn't find it? You had it yesterday.'

'I know.' And that was the most baffling thing. He knew exactly where he'd left the transmodulator, on his desk, deciding that there was little point in filing it way until Jack had declared than he was finished with it and that it was safe. He should have finished checking it over yesterday, but the last few days had been just as busy as Jack had promised.

'Okay,' Jack said slowly, trying to wheedle more information out of Ianto. 'So, did you maybe put it somewhere else and forget?'

Ianto gave him a withering look and Jack held his hands up in surrender. 'Just saying. You know, it does happen occasionally when you're not on your A game.' It was rare, but it did happen. It just wasn't like Ianto to lose things. Most of the time.

Ianto stepped closer to the desk and sat down in the chair opposite. 'I know,' he repeated, 'which is why I checked all the usual places as well, and retraced my steps in case I got distracted somewhere along the way and put it down.'

The look of guilt and embarrassment on Ianto's face seemed punishment enough. 'Okay, well it's bound to turn up sometime today or tomorrow. I just would have preferred that we get Tosh to have a look at it now and figure out why it went haywire in the first place, so that we can prevent it happening again.'

'I'm sorry,' Ianto apologised. 'I'll keep looking. I don't know what to say.'

'So say "would you like another coffee, sir?" and we'll leave it at that.'

Ianto gave him a wan smile. 'Would you like another coffee, sir?'

'Love one.'

Ianto left with his orders. He would find it if he had to turn the whole hub upside down.

 

Gwen stormed into Jack's office later that afternoon, her face like thunder. 'You care to explain yourself?' she asked, hands on hips.

'Explain what?'

'I know it was you, Jack. God, you even had the cheek to leave the empty wrappers in my bin!'

'Gwen, slow down,' Jack pleaded. 'I have no idea what you're talking about. Sit down and start from the beginning.'

She flashed him an angry look but did as he asked.

'Yesterday I had five chocolate bars in my drawer, and today I come in to find five chocolate bar wrappers in the bin. No apology, no IOU note, nothing.'

'It wasn't me.'

'Come on, Jack. We all know what you're like with chocolate.'

'Hand on heart I promise you. Besides,' he said, feeling a little bit of defensive feeling rising up inside him, 'I'm not the only one around here with a sweet tooth. Myf probably pinched them in the night.'

'Last I checked, she didn't have opposable thumbs for peeling off the wrappers.'

'Good point,' Jack conceded. 'Well, that only leaves Owen, Tosh and Ianto, and I think we can discount the last two.'

'So we think Owen took it?'

'Wouldn't be the first time.'

'Yeah, but he's not stupid enough to leave the evidence behind.'

'Oh, but you thought I was?' Jack said, smiling at the accusation. He leaned forward on the desk. 'Even assuming it was Owen, I don't think you're going to get a confession out of him, let alone an apology.'

'True,' she sullenly agreed.

Jack reached over and pulled out the bottom drawer of his desk, bringing out five chocolate bars, then adding a sixth as a goodwill gesture.

'Secret stash?' Gwen asked.

'Something like that. I like happy employees, and Ianto never notices it if I only steal one at a time from his drawer.'

Gwen rolled her eyes in a very Ianto like way, knowing full well that Ianto knew, but that he let Jack get away with it.

'This was fun,' Jack said standing up as Gwen made to leave. 'We should have chats like this more often.'

'You're hilarious, you know that?' she said, giving him a toothy grin and leaving.

 

'Alright,' Owen's voice rang up from his autopsy bay, his feet pounding up the steps, 'who's gone and fucked with my full body scanner?'

Three faces all looked at him vaguely, but it didn't stop him from pointing accusations at them.

'Who was the last person to use it?' he demanded. 'Come on, don't think I don't know you people use it when I'm not here to check yourselves over and save having to have me check you out.'

'Even if we did,' Tosh said, not denying it outright, 'why make a fuss about it now?'

'Because it's not bloody working now, that's why. You,' Owen said, pointing at Ianto, 'you're always down there cleaning up.'

'Which I wouldn't have to if you did it yourself,' Ianto muttered.

'You must've knocked it with your mop or something.'

'I haven't touched your bloody alien x-ray machine,' Ianto growled, indignant at the charge.

Jack wandered out just in time to see the two of them in a Mexican standoff.

'What have I told you two about playing nice? Owen, what have you done this time?'

'Why's it always my fault? Someone's futzed with the body scanner. It was working fine last week.'

'If your polite bone was missing from the scan, that's because you don't have one,' Ianto quipped.

'Not helping, Ianto,' Jack warned him.

'It missed the stick up your arse, too,' Owen retorted. 'How does Jack find room?'

Oi... Jack thought. He really wanted to bang their heads together some days. 'Tosh, can you please take a look at it and see if you can't get it working for Lord Grumpy Pants here?'

'Wha?' Owen exclaimed at the thinly veiled insult.

'And you,' he said, turning on his lover, 'don't you have some work that needs doing in the archives?'

'Yes, sir,' he replied plainly, taking his leave.

 

'Anything yet, Tosh?' Owen huffed impatiently, standing over the railing.

'Yeah, actually. The zero point laser from inside it is missing. That's why it's not working.'

'What? Well, how could that happen?'

'I don't know,' she said, sitting back on her calves, the machine now in several pieces on the floor. 'Someone would have to have physically removed it. Might be a spare one in the archives somewhere. I'll get Ianto to look into it. If we do, I can have it back up and working in no time.'

'Who would do that? Take it apart for that, I mean?'

'No one here. There's something else I want to check. Can you pass me my PDA?'

'Yeah,' Owen replied. 'On your desk?'

'Yep.'

Owen stepped over to her desk, rifling in amongst the other bits of tech randomly scattered on it. 'Sure it's here?' he called out.

'Yep.'

He pushed a few more things around, but couldn't see it anywhere. He tried the top drawer as well, just in case.

'It's not here, Tosh.'

She trotted up the stairs and joined him, reviewing the contents, pawing through them.

'I swear I left it here last night.' She double checked her handbag and her drawers, scratching her head. 'You don't suppose...' she let the rest of the sentence hang.

'Nah,' Owen said. 'Two things go missing that's just coincidence.'

'What's gone missing?' Jack said, walking up to them.

 

Tosh was annoyed about the missing PDA, but more confused as to how's Owen's body scanner could be missing a vital component. She wasn't given time to dwell on it further though, because Jack had already give her another assignment to occupy her time.

'I need you to check something with the rift machine.'

'The rift machine?'

'Getting weird readings from it. Need you to take a look. Get Ianto to pull the plans from secure archives.'

'Really?' She searched his gaze for any signs that he was having her on. It wasn't beneath him to play pranks at his team's expense.

'Really. I don't wanna risk it. I'd rather you check it out properly and be certain. Just don't get too excited, you hear me? We're not fixing it all the way. Just wanna be sure it's not about to blow up on us. Not that I think it is, just like to be sure.'

Tosh nodded obediently.

'Ianto!' Jack yelled out, and from nowhere the unassuming young man appeared.

'Tosh needs the plans for the rift machine.'

'Sir?'

'It's okay,' he said, leaning back in his chair and resting a heavy boot on the desk. 'I've authorised it.' He nodded towards the safe at the far end of his office.

Ianto rolled his eyes, biting down on any comments about Jack having a bone in his arm, perfectly capable of having retrieved them himself. He had no doubts Jack would be enjoying the view of his rear end opening the safe.

He deftly twirled the combination lock left, then right, then left again, pulling open the heavy door, revealing the high tech safe hidden behind the Victorian facade. He keyed in the code and pulled the lever down, hearing it hiss. He dragged out the metal box, frowning. That wasn't the plans. He set the box on the desk and flipped the lever again, pulling out the next metal crate. The plans weren't in there either. Odd. He was sure he'd input the right code, appending the specific crate code.

He looked back at Jack who had his arms folded and his eyebrows raised.

'Problem?'

He turned back to the safe without a word, still flustered by his earlier misplaced transmodulator. He input the code again, concentrating, and tugged the lever. This time when he opened it, there was a crate with nothing in it. He checked the padlock code. Yes, this was the one.

'What's wrong?' Jack asked, sensing Ianto's shoulders tense, pulling his feet back off the desk, and sitting up straight

Ianto turned to face him. 'It's gone.'

 

Jack leaned his elbows on the boardroom table, looking stern as the others sat there and sipped their coffee.

'We have a thief in our midst,' he began. 'A transmodulator core, chocolate bars, a zero point laser, a PDA, plans for the rift machine... all seemingly unrelated.'

'You think it's one of us?' Owen said.

'But it can't be,' Gwen replied. 'We've all had stuff go missing.'

'Could be a ruse,' Jack said,

'Hang on a bit,' Owen said. 'I haven't heard of anything of yours going missing.' The four of them looked at Jack perplexed. He couldn't be the one. Why would he call a meeting if it was him?

'Yet,' Jack qualified.

'I still don't know,' Owen mused. 'Teaboy seems to have been at the centre of a lot of these things, and none of us has the code to the secure archive.'

Jack stood up. He wanted to defend his lover with every breath in his body, but right now, he couldn't be certain it wasn't any one of them. All he knew was that it wasn't him, but that he couldn't have his team divided from the inside. He had to be their captain first and foremost.

'Nobody is pointing the finger at anybody,' Jack said, making his feelings clear. 'Someone or something is at work here. Chunks of CCTV footage have been wiped from our systems, our secure codes breached and all of this seems to have happened during the night.'

'Well, that settles it doesn't it?' Owen said. 'The three of us aren't here at night, so that just leaves you two.'

'Surely you're not suggesting it's Jack or Ianto?' Gwen cried.

'They would have heard someone up in Jack's office, accessing the secure archive, surely,' Tosh protested.

'Not if it was one of them,' Owen replied.

'Of all the ridiculous...' Ianto spat back.

'Everybody calm down!' Jack roared. The silence that fell around that room was deafening.

'Now, I've already had Tosh run a life signs scan, but apart from us, and the residents, there's no one else here who shouldn't be.'

'Maybe Janet's nicking out for a late night pilfering spree,' Owen muttered.

'Which means,' Jack continued, ignoring Owen's snark, 'that we're most likely dealing with something that doesn't register as a life sign.'

'Great,' Owen said, 'that leaves us with ghosts, robots, alien gas beings, Santa Claus and the Easter bunny.'

'You forgot the Tooth Fairy,' Ianto quipped, unable to help himself in trying to bring levity to the moment, before making a startling realisation. He twirled in his seat to stare at Jack, face ashen.

'You don't thinks it's...'

'No,' Jack said, reading his mind. 'We destroyed it completely. Besides, cybermen don't pickpocket. We'd have been dead in our sleep or converted by now if there was a cyberman here in the hub. He paused. Cyber mats however...'

'What's that?' Gwen asked.

'Mechanical rodents, more or less. Cut from the same cloth, but limited in their abilities, though just as dangerous if we don't find them and neutralise them.' He paused again, thinking it over. 'Still doesn't account for the chocolate, though.'

'Maybe it's not connected,' Tosh said.

'It has to be. It went missing overnight and there was no CCTV footage showing anyone taking it from Gwen's drawer. It had to have gone missing in the same time that the CCTV was scrubbed. It's still a possibility, but I'm not prepared to discount anything right now.'

'I've reset all our security codes,' Tosh announced. 'If anyone had sourced the old ones somehow, that should prevent them from gaining access to our systems, weapons store and all other restricted areas.' She tapped the keys and brought up an image on the screen. 'I've also introduced some tracker bots into our systems to trawl for unusual activity. If someone does something out of the ordinary, the bots should alert us.'

'Good. In the meantime, we sweep this base, top to bottom. I want to be sure we find anything that might be hiding away.'

They split up in teams of two and three, slowly working their way from one end of the enormous labyrinth to the other, sealing off passages and rooms as they went, entering new lock down codes for each sector, ensuring anything missed by their search wouldn't be able to escape from one section to the next. It took them three full days to sweep the entire hub, but their search had so far turned up nothing, and the further they traveled from the main hub, the less likely it became that anything would turn up.

Gwen and Ianto wandered a lonely corridor, checking each room in turn. Down here it was nothing more than disused storage areas, untouched for years, or decades maybe, Gwen thought. It was dreary and depressing.

'Huh,' Ianto said, shining his torch down at ther floor.

'What is it?' Gwen asked, flicking her own torch from corner to corner. 'I don't see anything.'

'Exactly. The floor should be covered in dust, like everything else down here, but it's spotless.'

'Maybe you've cleaned it already.'

'Not that I recall. Don't think I've made it this far down.'

She sighed. 'So many rooms. You've probably just forgotten. There's no other signs that anyone's been down here apart from it being clean,' she said, poking around the shelves of long forgotten detritus.

'I suppose. I'll mention it to Jack anyway and make sure Tosh fixes an un-networked camera in here, just in case.'

'Good idea.'

 

The search turned up nothing untoward; no robots, no ghosts and nothing else that could be ascribed as anything other than dust, mildew and decay.

They monitored the feed from the overly clean room all night, taking it in turns to grab an hour or two of sleep, but there was no movement, and no interruptions to the feed at all. The second night they left it go on its own, reviewing it in the morning, but still nothing. There was however another chunk missing from their main CCTV systems, and Jack was livid. What on earth was going on around here?

'I'm sorry, Jack,' Tosh said, running every program she could think of. 'I can't explain it.'

'Does anything appear to be missing?' he asked Gwen and Ianto.

'We inventoried the secure archives, weapons store and half a dozen other key areas. Everything is in order,' Gwen reported.

Jack let out a vexed breath. 'Are we jumping shadows, Tosh? Could the CCTV system itself be glitchy?'

'I'll check it again,' she said, but already knowing the answer was no.

'This all started the day after we found that crashed spaceship,' Ianto said, thinking aloud. 'Could something have been hiding inside?'

'It's been offline this whole time,' Tosh replied. 'For all intents and purposes it's dead. I haven't even had a chance to look at it to see if we can get it working again. We all saw it was empty inside.'

'And we haven't found anything anywhere in the hub,' Owen added.

Jack put his hands on his hips. 'And we're sure nothing else is missing since last night?'

Gwen frowned. 'Well, we can't be one hundred percent, but it doesn't look like it.'

'Okay,' Jack said. 'Tosh, keep seeing what you can find out about the CCTV. I can live with a few things going missing, but the rift plans being gone worries me. For now I want the rest of you to get on with your normal duties. I don't have to tell you to stay vigilant for anything strange.'

And stay vigilant they did, for all the good it did. The strange occurrences of the past four days seemed to end as abruptly as they'd begun. There were no more gaps in their CCTV, and no more possessions that went astray. In short, everything went back to normal, or as normal as Torchwood ever got.

 

Jack awoke and shuffled in bed, reaching over to wrap himself tighter around his lover, only to find he wasn't there. He gave it five minutes, sure that he'd just nipped out to the bathroom. After ten, he still hadn't returned, and Jack realised that the side of the narrow bed was cold. He'd been gone a while. Huh. He cracked open an eye and spied the glowing green numbers on the beside clock. 3.13am. Way too early for Ianto to be up and about.

Ianto wasn't one to get up in the middle of the night, even if he'd had a sudden thought about something. It was the reason for the notepad and pen on the side table, so that if he did have a sudden burst of inspiration, something for his to do list, he could jot it down and fall straight back asleep. Only Jack made four am starts, unable to sleep, though they were more infrequent these days. Ianto was the lighter sleeper of the two of them. Once Jack fell asleep, he stayed that way. Ianto often joked that the rift could implode and Jack would sleep right through it.

Not tonight though. Something had clearly woken him, and finding Ianto gone was the most likely explanation for it.

He pulled back the covers, shivering involuntarily, despite the long pajama bottoms and bedsocks. He'd laughed when Ianto had bought them for him, telling him they were the most ridiculous thing he'd ever seen, but now he was glad of them on those chilly winter nights. With only a t-shirt covering his upper torso, his arms became instantly freckled with goosebumps.

He climbed up ladder and looked around for his companion, sure he wouldn't be far away. He wasn't in Jack's office, nor could he see him through the glass window in the main section of the hub working at his own desk, or tucked away in the kitchenette. Did Ianto even do late night snacking? Shivering again, he grabbed his coat from the hook near the door and wrapped it around his body, before sitting down at his desk.

'Now where did you get to, Mr Jones?' he asked himself, opening up the live CCTV feeds and flicking through the most likely cameras.

Ah ha. Archives. Just as he'd thought.

He made the journey downstairs quickly, finding Ianto not at his desk in front of the computer, where he'd been when he'd picked up the camera feed, but wandering amongst the shelves in the next room.

'I admire your work ethic, but even I have my limits,' he joked.

At first Ianto didn't respond, continuing his search.

'Come on,' Jack beseeched him. 'Can't this, whatever this is, wait til morning? My snoring wasn't that bad, was it?'

Still, Ianto chose to ignore him, as if he wasn't there. It wasn't until Jack closed the gap between them and grabbed him by the arms that he stopped.

'Ianto, you must be freezing,' Jack said, gripping him as he stood there in his own t-shirt and pajamas. Ianto just blanked him, only it wasn't quite blank, more like deer caught in the headlights.

'Ianto? What's wrong? Talk to me.'

He expected a little frown to cross his features, as it had done a million times before, confused or surprised, or even upset, waiting for Ianto to shrug him off, annoyed at something he didn't yet know he'd done wrong. Instead, Ianto went completely still in his arms, like his very essence had left the room.

'Ianto,' Jack repeated, giving him a little shake. Was he sleep walking? He shook a bit harder, prepared to live with the consequences of suddenly waking him out of some dream state. He should have been floppy and relaxed, even if he was sleepwalking, but instead he went stiff as a board when Jack gripped him, though his expression was still vague. Something was very wrong. Jack looked down and found something small gripped in Ianto's hand. He reached down and wrapped his own hand around Ianto's.

'Let me have it,' he said, keeping his tone firm. Ianto's face didn't register the question, but his hand let go regardless. Jack held up the small metal ball, examining it. It was a power cell. What would Ianto want with a power cell?

A power cell, a transmodulator core, a zero point laser, a PDA, chocolate, no, forget the chocolate, plans for the rift machine...

It suddenly all made perfect sense. They couldn't find their thief because he'd been amongst them the whole time. The items weren't random at all. It wasn't absent minded Torchwood staff. It was deliberate.

'Ianto,' he asked again, praying for some sign of recognition. Something had taken him. Taken control of him, somehow.

He gripped Ianto's hand harder, slipping the power cell in his coat pocket, and pulling on Ianto's hand. Surprisingly, when Jack pulled, Ianto complied, and let himself be lead.

 

As much as it broke his heart to do so, he locked Ianto in one of the cells. He sat on the stone ledge and stared blankly at Jack through the perspex, as Jack studied him. Then he simply lay down along its length and closed his eyes, drifting off into sleep.

'Jack! Jack!' The sound of Tosh's footsteps dashing down the narrow stairway, echoing around the stony walls, grabbed his attention.

'Tosh, it's three in the morning. What they hell are you doing here?'

She came to a dead stop in front of the cell, seeing Ianto lying inside.

'It's him.' The way she said it as a statement rather than a question caught him by surprise.

'I know. How did you know, though?'

'The trawler bots. They flagged Ianto accessing several sections of the lower hub. Sections he had no reason to be in. I tried calling you but you didn't answer.'

Jack growled. He'd left his phone by his bedside when he'd gone to look for Ianto.

'Show me where,' Jack ordered her.

She looked at Ianto lying prone in the cell. 'Shouldn't we-'

'I need more information first, Tosh. Then maybe I can figure out what we're dealing with.'

 

Tosh lead him through a dark and narrow passageway, following her map of the various sectors.

'When I reset all our security codes I made each one unique to a specific member of the team. That way, if anything unusual cropped up, we'd know who had been compromised.'

Compromised. Jack turned the word over in his head. Was that what had happened?

'You anticipated this?' he asked.

She frowned, looking guilty that she'd mistrusted her coworkers and friends. 'I didn't want to take any chances.'

'I'm glad you didn't,' he replied, trying to reassure her that she'd done the right thing.

She nodded at him, her face still grim. 'Through here,' she said, indicating the security panel, keying in her own code.

When Jack pushed open the door, they were both surprised to find the crashed spaceship in the middle of the room.

'I swept this area myself,' Jack said. 'That wasn't in here.'

'He must've moved it after the search. Several times I'm guessing. Each time we cleared an area, it would have been safe to come back and move it somewhere we'd already checked.'

'A power cell, a transmodulator core, a zero point laser, a PDA, plans for the rift machine... Things you might need to repair a broken spaceship.'

'A power cell?'

Jack pulled it from his pocket and showed Tosh. She considered the ship. 'It would probably work, but not on its own.'  

'He had this when I found him. I think he was searching for a second one.' 

'Yes, you'd need at least two,' she agreed. 'So, what are we saying? Something from the ship has taken over his body and is trying to fix the ship?'

'It's built for only two passengers,' Jack replied, 'so I think we're dealing with one of them.'

Tosh looked at Jack with a worried expression. 'So, where's the other one?'

 

'Jack?' There was a persistent banging that woke him from where he'd become slumped on a hard backed metal chair down in the cells.

'This had better not be one of your funny, "let's have sex in a cell before breakfast" pranks,' Ianto said. 'I don't even want to know how you drugged me and got me down here. You'll be on decaf for a week!'

Jack bolted up from the chair and came to stand face to face with Ianto on the opposite side of the cell door.

'Ianto?'

'Who else? Now stop playing funny buggers and let me out. I'm not in the mood for games this morning, however many happy endings you promise.'

'I can't.'

'Don't be ridiculous. Of course you can.'

'I can't,' Jack repeated.

Ianto leaned forward, pressing both hands up against the glass, his nose almost touching it, and his face contorted in displeasure.

'Jack. Let. Me. Out. Now.'

'Protocol 17,' Jack said.

Protocol... Alien influence. No. It wasn't possible.

'No,' he said, shaking his head. 'You're wrong.'

'Ianto, what's the last thing you remember?'

'I... I was going to bed. With you.'

'And then?'

'Then?' he exclaimed. 'Then, then nothing. I fell asleep. I woke up here.' He saw the stony look in Jack's eyes and knew there was more to it than that. Was he the one who had been stealing stuff?

'Jack. Please tell me this isn't happening.'

Jack pressed a hand against the glass, mirroring Ianto's own. 'I'm sorry.'

'But I feel fine! I feel completely fine. I've felt completely fine this whole time.'

'And yet during the night you've been taking apart body scanners and raiding the archives for spare parts, wiping out the evidence as you went. You waited until I was asleep and then snuck out, knowing there was small chance of me waking up, and then you'd crawl back into bed once you were all done, and me none the wiser.'

No. No, he hadn't done that, had he? 'Wouldn't I remember if I had?'

'Are there any other gaps in your memory? Think hard. During the day, did you at any time find yourself somewhere you don't remember going, or have chunks of time that seem to disappear quickly?'

Ianto scrunched up his face, trying to recall every last minute of the past few days. 'No,' he replied.

Jack nodded patiently. 'Okay. So, perhaps this isolated to when you're asleep, when your mental barriers are at their weakest.'

'What does that mean?'

'I don't know yet. But I promise you, we're going to do everything we can to help you.'

 

'Told you it was him, didn't I?' Owen said, when he arrived, having received the six am call from Jack, requesting him to come in immediately.

'Maybe now's not the time for I told you so?' Gwen suggested. The lack of coffee and Ianto's reassuring presence had them all feeling edgy.

'Run every test you can,' Jack asked. 'I want to know what it is. Microbial, nanotechnology, viral, empathic, whatever. We don't stop until we know and figure out a way to get it out.'

Owen's tests were time consuming but thorough. When he had to go in to run physical tests, Jack accompanied him, stun gun at the ready in case Ianto should try to make a break for it, or harm Owen. It was a futile exercise as Ianto simply sat there and let Owen go through the motions, poking and prodding, taking samples of everything, without a word of complaint. All he requested were some warmer clothes and something to eat, both of which Jack readily supplied, bringing down jeans, a warm, hooded jumper and thick socks, as well as tea and toast.

'I swear I feel fine,' Ianto persisted, changing clothes in front of Jack without a second thought.

'Please just let us do our job,' Jack begged him. 'I can't treat you any different than if it was one of the others.'

'I know,' Ianto said, slumping back down on the ledge gripping the hot mug and wishing it was coffee instead of tea. He knew better than to let Jack attempt coffee. He could jiggle a teabag without too much trouble, but operating Ianto's precious machine was a leap too far.

 

'It's like a tiny light blinking in the background,' Owen announced, as he twisted the screen around to show Jack. 'Hardly noticeable, but it's there. A completely separate brainwave.'

'A brainwave? But that's like, another consciousness.'

'Exactly. Something else is using his brain, but it's not strong enough to take total control. It explains why he seems normal now, but also explains what you described to me, like a sleepwalker's trance state. It could only take over when Ianto's own consciousness was subdued.'

'So, how do we get it out?'

'I don't know. But, I do think we might be able to communicate with it.'

 

'What's this?' Ianto asked, holding the handful of white pills in his palm.

'Melatonin,' Owen replied. 'It'll help you sleep.'

He looked up at Owen. 'You couldn't just knock me out with a needle?'

'Not the same thing. Sedatives block your natural hormone production. They knock you out cold. We don't want you unconscious, just relaxed enough that your consciousness isn't competing against the other one.'

He looked up at Jack for confirmation that Owen's idea had his approval, before knocking them back and gulping down the glass of water.

'Lie back and relax,' Owen ordered, having tried to make him as comfortable as possible by adding a pillow and a thin mattress to his cell. All the melatonin in the world wouldn't help him sleep if he didn't relax.

It made Jack feel better at least that Owen was fairly certain Ianto wouldn't just suddenly switch personalities. As long as he was awake, he was most likely himself and would stay that way.

'Should've organised some panflute music,' Jack joked, trying ease the tension in the room.

'Har, har,' Ianto replied, closing his eyes.

It felt like an eternity, waiting as Ianto's breathing finally slowed. Jack hated standing there doing nothing, but he resisted the urge to fidget in case he disturbed Ianto.

Ianto's head slipped gently sideways into the pillow as he fell into sleep. It only lasted a few minutes before his eyes flew open, though his body remained utterly still.

Jack cocked his head at the sudden presence in the cell.

'Hello. And who might you be?'

At first, Ianto made no move to acknowledge Jack's question. His gaze remained fixed in front of him staring straight through Jack, body inert and unmoving. Then Jack pulled over the metal chair, letting it scrape painfully across the concrete, like fingernails on a chalk board. Ianto's face scrunched up at the sound.

'Yeah, thought that might get your attention,' he said, sitting backwards on it, facing the cell, his arms resting on the chair's back.

'Who are you?'

Ianto's eyes stared back at him, unblinking.

'What are you?'

Ianto remained tight-lipped.

'Where did you come from?'

Jack stared back hard, looking for any reaction at all. He leaned further over the back of the chair.

'See, I can do this all day if you like. Play games, let you give me the runaround, but eventually I lose patience.'

Ianto continued to stare through him, though there was a tightness in his lips, holding back something.

'If you don't tell me who you are, I might just have to find out for myself, and take apart your ship piece by piece.'

'No!' Finally a reaction, and a big one at that.

'Yes,' Jack said, using it as leverage. 'And I'll take back all the bits you stole.'

'No. Please!' There was genuine fear in those eyes now, breaths coming in sharp and ragged.

'Why? Tell me who you are, or I might just blow it up and be done with it. I don't have any use for a ship like that.'

'Cerine. I am Cerine.'

'What are you?'

'Tr... Traveler,' the voice trembled.

'Why did you invade my friend?'

'The discharge. It was a.... accident. But a happy accident. Not enough... power to sustain us both.' The entity seemed to struggle over the words, as if they were unfamiliar and new.

Jack looked at Owen. 'He got zapped by that console. Thought it was just a short circuit.'

'This one had much knowledge,' the entity said. 'Knowledge to save Dareon.'

'Who's Dareon. Your copilot?'

'He's my... this one would call him lover.'

'This one has a name,' Jack growled. 'This one is not yours to do with as you please.'

'I know. This one cares for you very much.'

Jack cocked his head, considering the entity. 'If you know so much about us from reading Ianto's memories, why didn't you come straight out and ask us for help. You know who we are and what we do.'

'This one... saw much death. Much... pain. We could not take the risk. Better to... fix the ship and be gone... before you knew.'

'You've been waiting until Ianto was asleep each night, using his memories to find what you needed to fix it.'

'Yes.'

'And he has no memory of these periods when you take over his body?'

'It is... strange,' she replied. 'All of his mind is here for me to see, but he does not see me. When he is awake I am... trapped.'

'The body is recognising the dominant consciousness,' Owen supplied.

'And the chocolate?' It was the only thing he couldn't yet puzzle out.

'This one was feeding it to your... pet. Sharing it. I liked the taste. This one knew where to find more.'

'Why were there no bodies on the ship?' Owen asked.

'The bodies... decay. It was time to return... home, for new bodies.'

'New bodies?'

'Ours is a clone race. We were lost on our travels back. The bodies could no longer be sustained. We were forced to... divest them... transfer our essence to the ship for the remaining journey. Others would find us and restore us.'

'Clones?' Owen asked. 'You all look the same?'

'No. There are... thousands of... permutations permitted, but all vessels are created equal. This vessel is no different.'

'Ianto is not a vessel,' Jack said, making sure she understood that this was temporary. 'We can help you fix your ship, but I need you to leave his body.'

'I am uncertain this is... possible. Transference was not... planned. The vessel should have been empty.'

'Well, it wasn't. And we didn't mean for this to happen any more than you did.'

'Please. You must save Dareon. If the ship's... power reserves are not restored, his essence will be lost.'

'You say the ship took your consciousness, your essence, from your old body and stored it in the ships data core?'

'Yes.'

'So, the same can be done again to remove you from Ianto.'

'It may be so. Dareon would know better than I.'

'Well, Dareon isn't here. And I won't risk another of my team to download his consciousness to fix your ship,' Jack replied.

'I will... do what I can. I may need more... supplies.'

'You'll have all of my team's expertise at your disposal on the agreement that you will not take over Ianto's body without consent, and that you will remove yourself once the ship is restored. Whatever else you need we can provide or procure as necessary.'

'I agree to your... terms. I meant no harm to this one.'

'Good,' Jack said, standing up, arms folded. 'As a gesture of good faith, I ask you to let Ianto sleep. When he wakes, we will explain all that you've told us. If he agrees, we will facilitate a way for you to communicate with us as you are now, but you shall not do anything to force the matter. If you do, we will terminate your ship.'

Cerine nodded. 'So shall it be done.'

She laid back down on the mattress, snuggled on her side, face buried deep in the pillow and closed her eyes, drifting away into sleep.

 

There was a hand stoking his hair when he woke up, Jack's face staring down at him.

'Did it work? Is it gone?'

'Not gone,' Jack replied softly. 'Just subdued for a while.'

He knew that once he'd explained everything to Ianto, there was no way he wouldn't have agreed to help.

'So, she's inside my head?'

'Yep.'

'And you can get her out? When this is all done, I mean?'

'I hope so. But she knows the ship better than anyone, so we need her to help us fix it. Then she can explain how this transferring of consciousnesses works.'

'We need to save her partner,' Ianto replied. His expression was one of steely determination, even if the only part he could play would be to stand aside.

'We will.'

 

After a time, Owen set up more comfortable quarters where Ianto could rest. The ship was brought into the same room, to save Cerine from having to be moved around the hub to access it. Tosh brought down as much computer and mechanical equipment as she could, along with diagnostic devices and other programs. Owen brought down his own complement of equipment. As much as he trusted Jack, he didn't trust the being claiming to be trapped inside Ianto's brain. he had Ianto hooked up to various monitors that would keep tabs on his brain activity and flag anything that seemed out of the ordinary. He wasn't about to let some other being get a foothold in his friend. It was one thing to take over when he was asleep, but he was going to make sure it couldn't become permanent.

Jack sat down on the cot beside him. 'Ready?'

'Not much to be ready for,' Ianto replied. 'First time you let me sleep on the job,' he joked.

'And last,' Jack added, squeezing his hand.

'Yeah, yeah,' Owen said, bustling past and getting between them. 'Enough with the mush. Can we get on with this?'

Ianto rolled his eyes and Jack smiled at his upbeat demeanor, letting Owen finish his fiddling with electrode dots and wires.

'I'll be monitoring you both the whole time,' he said, making sure Cerine knew he was talking to her as well. 'Try anything shifty and I jolt him with an electric pulse which is ninety-nine percent guaranteed to wake him up.'

'Let's pray it doesn't come to that,' Jack said.

'Or you could always just shove me out of bed and on to the floor. That's works one hundred percent of the time, as Jack well knows,' Ianto added.

'Right, let's do this,' Owen said, handing Ianto a second handful of tablets, quickly taken.

Twenty minutes later, his eyes flashed open.

'Cerine?' Jack asked.

'Yes,' she replied, slowly sitting up with Jack's help.

'I'd like you to meet Tosh. She's our resident technology guru.' Tosh nodded and smiled.

'Guru...' she rolled the word around her tongue.

'Expert,' Jack clarified.

'Yes,' Cerine nodded, accessing all the memories that were available to her.

'And this is-'

'Gwen,' she finished for him. 'This one knows your team, so I know them. I have watched you all for many days.'

'Of course,' Jack said. 'Shall we?'

 

They spent several hours getting to grips with the basics of the craft, Cerine explaining what she could, and Jack filling in some of the rest.

'You know this ship?' Cerine asked.

'I can pick out a cruiser from an orbiter, and get the main engines going on most things, but the rest of the tech, not so much,' he confessed.

The size of the spaceship didn't help either. Ianto may have joked earlier that Jack was too big to get inside, but it was true. Tosh fitted inside easily enough, and Ianto's leaner frame to a lesser extent, but all Jack could do was patch up systems from underneath external panels on the ship.

Cerine tried to explain as best she could the systems that had transferred their consciousnesses to the ship's data core. Owen plugged in some of his own equipment to analyse the signal inside, whilst Jack connected a temporary power source, ensuring that the core received enough juice to maintain the lattice of electricals that formed the centre of the data core.

'I've got confirmation on a second brainwave pattern,' Owen announced, cramped inside the confines of the ship's bridge. 'Matches the same type of signal we registered in Ianto's brain.'

'Dareon lives?' Cerine asked, Ianto's face a mask of worry.

'Seems that way.'

Jack rolled out from under the ship, wiping his hands on a towel. 'Backup power cell is up and running. Should be stable enough to keep the whole thing running.'

'Thank you,' she replied.

'It's only a first step,' Jack said.

'You have done more than I could.'

'Well,' Jack said, turning around and surveying his team, 'I think maybe we should break for lunch, what do you say?'

'Starving,' Owen agreed.

'Tosh, why don't you and I go fetch some of those nice sandwiches from that café? Owen can stay here and check on Ianto.'

'Always me left to do all the work,' Owen griped.

 

Tosh and Jack made their leave, and Cerine sat back down on the edge of the bed whilst Owen checked various readings. Gwen sat down beside her.

'You okay?' she asked.

'Strange,' she replied. 'This one is much taller than I'm used to.'

'Yeah, he is,' she smiled. 'Better looking than Owen, though.'

'Talk about me like I'm not even here, why don't you?' he muttered, checking readings on his tablet.

Cerine managed a small laugh. 'This one is jealous of you.'

'Me?' Gwen scoffed. 'Whatever for?'

'You have... formal union... with your lover.'

Gwen frowned for a moment. 'Rhys? Yes, we're married.'

'Don't tell me then Teaboy fancies Rhys,' Owen smirked.

'Shut up, Owen,' Gwen scolded. 'He's jealous of me because we're married?' That came as a surprise. She didn't think he and Jack were that serious.

'I'm sorry... I should not have said that,' Cerine apologised. 'That was a... private thought.'

'It's okay,' Gwen said, giving Cerine's knee a gentle squeeze. 'I won't tell if you don't.'

 

After lunch, they kept working away until Owen made them stop.

'He's not going to be able to stay asleep much longer,' Owen said. 'I'm surprised we've lasted this long.'

'It's true,' Cerine, agreed. It's getting harder to... stay focused.'

'Ianto's normal consciousness is fighting back. Probably dreaming.'

'We'll keep working on it in the mean time,' Jack promised, helping settle Cerine back on the bed. 'You should try and get some rest too, if that's possible.'

'I will try. This one's mind is... very busy.'

Jack laughed. 'Don't I know it?'

Once she was asleep, Jack turned to Owen. 'Are we okay?'

'Think so,' he replied. 'No unusual readings. Looks like she's keeping up her end of the bargain.'

'Her partner's life was in the balance, of course she kept up her end,' Jack said, watching carefully as Ianto's body slept, looking for any signs that the sleep was being feigned, and that their conversation might be overheard. 'The question is what will she do now that we've restored enough power to the ship to keep him alive?'

'You don't think she'd try to double cross us, do you?' Tosh asked. She'd worked with Cerine all day, and she seemed perfectly trustworthy.

'I hope not,' he replied, sounding grim. 'But it's easy to trust someone who looks and sounds like someone you already trust.' He knew that better than anyone.

'When he wakes I want you to be doubly sure, Owen. She's got access to all his memories. It'd be all too easy for her to pretend to be Ianto.'

'Got it.'

 

'Earth to Ianto,' came the gruff London accent.

Ianto forced an eye open. He felt strangely unrested despite having been asleep.

'What day is it?' Owen asked.

Ianto flopped his head back on the pillow, groaning. 'Is that meant to be a trick question? I've been asleep. Could be Wednesday or it could be Thursday, depending how long it's been. Hopefully it's not Friday. If it is, council taxes were due yesterday. I hope someone paid them.'

'Fine,' Owen huffed, sensing that Ianto being difficult was merely a sign that he was himself, and not some alien pretending to be him. He didn't think Cerine could do Ianto style humour without a lot more practice.

'What are the words on the front of the Millennium Centre? The Welsh ones.'

'Creu gwir fel gwydr o ffwrnais awen.'

'Good.'

'And that was relevant, how?'

'If you were Cerine, you'd have struggled to answer that, let alone pronounce it right.'

'Oh.' Clever, he thought. 'How do you know I pronounced it right?'

'Shut up. Boss wants to see you if you're feeling up to it.'

'Okay,' Ianto pushed himself up, and made the familiar journey up to Jack's office.

 

'Sir?' he said, leaning in the doorway.

Jack smiled as stood up, coming over to meet him. 'Ianto,' he said, hugging him. 'How are you?'

'Fine. Should I not be fine?'

Jack didn't let go straight away, like he would have done normally. It made Ianto worry that something was wrong. Something he didn't know about yet.

'Is everything okay?'

'Just...' Jack began. 'A few days ago all I was worried about was some missing tech, when the thing most important to me was the thing being stolen, right under my nose.'

Ianto rolled his eyes at Jack's dramatacism. 'Not stolen, just... borrowed.'

Jack pulled him closer. 'I don't like sharing.'

'I know. We'll be okay, though. I've got a good feeling. Trust her.'

Jack pulled back and looked hard into his eyes. 'How can you know that?'

He shrugged. 'I just do. People do crazy things for love.'

Jack grinned. 'Wanna do something crazy right now? We've got time and the others are downstairs.'

'Probably not the best idea when I've got someone else inside my brain watching my every move.'

'I thought you liked voyeurism,' Jack teased.

 

It was late when they returned. Ianto had managed to negotiate with Jack to settle for a few kisses and two very long rounds of coffee and chocolate hobnobs, cuddled up on the sofa.

'Tosh, what's the latest?' Jack said, bursting into the room.

Both Tosh's and Gwen's faces made the bottom fall out his stomach. He'd been buoyed by Ianto's assurances that everything would work out. Was Tosh about to bring it all crumbling down around his head?

'What is it, Tosh?' Ianto said, cutting straight to the point, pushing past Jack.

'I figured out how the transference drive works.'

'That's good right?' Jack asked. 'Isn't it?'

'We ran some simulations using the data from Owen's scans of Ianto's and Cerine's brainwave patterns.'

'And?' Sensing the bad news to come.

'We can definitely split the two, and we can control which one is transferred back to the data core.'

'Failing to see the downside yet,' Ianto said, waiting for the inevitable "but".

'But, the first transference, when you were shocked by the control panel; it wasn't clean. According to these tests, when we try to transfer Cerine's consciousness back, it will become corrupted.'

'Corrupted? What does that mean?'

Gwen placed a hand on Ianto's arm, her sad hazel eyes meeting his own. 'There won't be enough of her left. If they try to put her into another body... it'll be like she's brain dead.'

Jack closed his eyes and swallowed down the lump that had formed in the back of his throat. It was relief that Ianto would be okay, but despair that they wouldn't be able to save Cerine.

'There's no other way?' Jack found himself saying, though he couldn't recognise his own voice.

'None,' Owen said, sounding angry that he couldn't find a solution.

The silence hung in the air for a minute, before a voice finally broke it.

'Then let her stay here,' Ianto said.

Owen stood there, shaking his head. 'Ianto, mate, that's not possible.'

'Why not? You say she's dead if you take her out. If she stays inside me at least she'll be alive.'

'We don't know what the effect might be on your brain chemistry,' Owen replied. 'Over time, the two consciousnesses could start to compete, or become melded together, or the synaptic load required to sustain both of you could cause irreparable brain damage.'

'And she'll only be alive when you're asleep, pet,' Gwen said. 'The rest of the time, she'll be nothing more than a prisoner, watching the world through your eyes. That's not life.'

'We'll make it work. Please, Jack,' he said, turning to him for agreement.

He understood perfectly Ianto's resistance and the desire to save lives at all costs, but if he was truly honest with himself, he didn't want to share. That was the heart of the matter. He also didn't want Ianto having to share his existence with someone he didn't even know, and whom he'd never know. And that was to say nothing of all the possibilities Owen had just listed off as potential consequences of letting this proceed.

'I don't think that's a good idea.' It was a thoroughly underwhelming response.

'It's not your life, Jack!'

Ianto was his life. Wasn't that the same thing?

'It's Cerine's life, too. What about what she wants?'

'Then ask her, and if she consents then let this be the end of the argument.'

'Ianto, this is a big thing. You need time to think it over. Don't rush into this. It's okay to say no now, but later...'

'Later it will be murder,' Ianto finished for him. 'If I change my mind. That's what you mean, isn't it? It'll be murder now, too.'

'Ianto, pet,' Gwen beseeched him, 'she can hear every word we're saying.'

'Good. Then she'll know my feelings on the matter, since we can't speak directly.'

'We can't always save everyone, Ianto,' Owen said, not wanting to interrupt but knowing it was getting too personal. He needed an objective opinion. 'It was an accident that it happened in the first place.'

'What Owen's trying to say,' Tosh interjected, 'is that it's no one's fault. Especially not yours.'

'Ask her,' came the steely reply, ending the conversation.

 

Ianto tried to sleep, so that they could speak with Cerine, but he found himself too angry, and his head spinning with too many thoughts to find sleep, no matter how many sleeping pills Owen had given him. The two cups of coffee he'd had earlier weren't helping, nor was the presence of everyone else in the room, each of whom he was annoyed with in their own way. He got up in a huff and walked out of the room.

'I need some air,' he muttered, brushing past Jack, who was keeping a distance, leaning in the doorway. Four pairs of eyes following him out the door, listening to his footfalls fade down the hall.

'Someone should probably go with him,' Owen said.

'Leave him,' Jack replied, ending the matter.

 

Ianto didn't stop until he was out the front door of the tourist office, the bracing winter wind off the bay hitting him full force. He marched headlong down the quayside, jogging up the stairs, feeling more and more awake with each gust of wind and the exertion in his legs, not stopping until he was past Mermaid Quay and halfway to the Norwegian Church. He leant hard against the railings, staring out at the slate grey waters, watching as they chopped and churned, trying to compete with the misery of the grey clouds overhead.

Perhaps he had been too rash in making the decision, but how could he choose death over life? Then he realised that whatever his thoughts, Cerine would hear them too. There were things he needed to say to her.

'It's not much,' he said, 'but it's home. It's cold, grey, and it rains a lot.'

The wind whipped his hair, as if welcoming his words and agreeing.

'I suppose I should tell you that I don't expect we'll live very long. Torchwood... well, let's just say it's a dangerous job. People die. Don't think I'll be the exception that proves the rule. Only Jack. He'll live forever. A pity you didn't get zapped into him instead, though you'd have a hell of a time keeping up with him. I do most days,' Ianto chuckled, in spite of himself.

'My life... well, it's not glamorous. It's a lot of cleaning up, sorting stuff, making coffee. Torchwood can be exciting sometimes, but for me it's mostly just admin. And there's Jack, though I think he means more to me than I do to him. Probably best that way. When I die... it'll be hard on him.'

'I just wanted to say... I want to do what's right, whatever that is. I don't know how this will work, or what the long term effects will be, but don't feel obligated to say no on my account. I'm just as scared as you probably are.'

He stood there a while longer, until his hands and nose were numb from the cold, and his limbs heavy from the drugs in his system. He trudged back towards the hub, feeling weary now that he'd finally voiced some of the thoughts in his head.

Inside the hub, it was noticeably warmer than outside, and he made it as far as the sofa before curling up on it and falling into a deep slumber.

 

No one was more surprised than Jack when Ianto finally walked back into the room. They'd spent the time discussing all of the various possibilities if they agreed to this, but none of them left them feeling any more comforted by the prospect.

'Ianto?' Jack said, noticing the tears streaking down his face.

'This one is sleeping. It is Cerine.'

Jack tensed, unsure what would happen next.

'I do not wish this one harm. I have learned much of him, and of you. I do not want to stay in this one's mind, even though I know it will mean my death.'

'Are you sure?' Jack asked. 'Ianto was pretty adamant that he wouldn't allow it.'

She turned to Gwen. 'You spoke truly that my life would be that of a prisoner, but when this one sleeps, he is my prisoner too, only he does not know it. I have stolen his life, however long or short. I would not be called a thief. It would be a great dishonor.'

'Should've though about that before she started nicking stuff,' Owen murmured, but Tosh elbowed him sharply.

'You're absolutely certain?' Jack said, coming to stand directly in front of her. 'My team assure me that the transfer is virtually suicide. I'm not sure you understand that.'

'I do.' Another tear slipped down Ianto's face and he sniffed loudly. 'I only wish that I could have had the chance to say goodbye to Dareon. He will never know what happened to me.'

Then the banks burst and the tears began falling hard and fast. Jack wrapped his lover's body tightly in his arms and held him through all the tears, noticing quiet tears dripping down Gwen's face as well, and Tosh on the verge herself.

As the tears finally abated, he set Cerine down on the bed and asked her to give them a few minutes whilst he stepped out into the corridor, the rest of the team following him outside.

'Tosh,' Jack said. 'You've got this transference drive working both ways, yeah?'

'Yes, but-'

'Jack, you can't,' Gwen said, realising what he was thinking.

'It'll be temporary. Just enough for them to say their goodbyes.'

'Hate to be the one to rain on everybody's parade,' Owen said, 'but what if it's a trap? What if this was their plan all along?'

'Cerine kept her promise. It's time we returned the favour. If it goes south, you have my permission to send him straight back.'

'What if we can't split you back apart, Jack? Did you think of that?' Owen spat. 'You'll be stuck like Ianto, or worse. Dareon could become corrupted as well, or you both might.'

'It's worth taking the chance. Someone once told me that people do crazy things for love.'

 

 

'This one will be angry with you,' Cerine said, when Jack told her his plan.

'Ianto is always angry with me. But he always forgives me, too.'

'You have much honor, Captain.' She bowed to him with her hands clasped in front of her. 'Thank you for this gift.'

'I'm sorry that we couldn't do more.'

'You have saved my Dareon. That is all that matters.' She reached up and pecked him on the cheek. 'I believe that is how you say thank you in your custom. This one taught me that.'

'One of the ways,' Jack grinned. She grinned back.

'You are almost as handsome as my Dareon.'

'Almost?' Jack said, eyebrows nearly disappearing into his hair line.

Owen cleared his throat loudly. 'We ready to do this?'

'Yup.'

'You'll have to get in close, Jack,' Tosh instructed, 'which means squeezing yourself into the pod.'

It was a struggle, but he finally managed it, squashing himself into the tiny seat in front of the console, knees pressed against his chin.

'You know, I haven't been this contorted since Ianto and I spent that night in the bathtub at St David's Hotel.'

'Overshare, Harkness!' Owen yelled.

'You're sure you want me to do this, Jack?' Tosh asked, lacking conviction in her voice that it would work.

'Do it.'

She keyed the instructions on her tablet and the ship began to hum, the interior glowing a pale yellow. It lasted about sixty seconds before winding down and stopping altogether.

'Jack?' Gwen called out.

'I'm fine. My brain didn't get zapped to mush if that's what you're worried about.'

Gwen and Owen helped to pull him back out, which was even harder than getting him inside.

'How do we know if it worked?' he asked.

'I take a brain scan,' Owen replied. 'If I find more than two peanuts, a clapping monkey and a sex drive, it probably worked.'

 

'Yep, there it is,' Owen said, peering at the display above Jack's head, which had two dozen electrodes stuck to it, making him look like Frankensteins's monster. 'Brainwave number two.'

'So all I have to do is send myself to sleep?'

Owen reluctantly handed over the tablets and Jack took them, swallowing them dry, and lying down. 'See you on the other side.'

'If things go to shit, Jack...' Owen began.

'Yeah, yeah, you know what to do,' Jack said, dismissing his concerns, feeling the drugs hit him harder than expected. He hadn't slept much himself since discovering Ianto in the archives, so that probably helped.

 

Jack's eyes slowly slid open. Ianto was standing over him. How he knew the name and the face was strange. He'd never seen it before, yet it felt like he'd seen it a million times.

'Dareon. It is me, my love. Cerine,' she said, stroking his face.

Dareon frowned. 'What has happened? Are these our new vessels?' He watched as a sad frown fell upon her face.

'A mistake. Our ship ran off course and crashed. I was transferred to this vessel by accident, by the man who came to save us. His friends restored the power source on board so that you would live. Like me, you now share this vessel with another mind.'

He reached to touch her cheek. 'I would not love you any less. These are just vessels.'

She gripped the hand on her face, holding it close. The touch was strange, but also filled with a warmth and a familiarity. This one's memories, she realised.

'I cannot... the transference was not done correctly. I must leave this vessel, but I cannot return. My essence will be... damaged.'

'Then stay.'

'I cannot. I made a promise to this one.'

Dareon searched the memories of his own vessel, seeing them as if they were his own. Everything that had happened since they'd first divested their dying bodies was now in his mind as if he'd experienced it first hand. He sat up, pressing himself right next to her own body, perched on the edge of the bed.

'These two vessels have union,' he said.

'Yes.' She placed a hand on Dareon's chest. 'This vessel took great risk to bring you to me so that I could speak with you one last time. He did not have to do this.'

Dareon realised that what she meant was that his own essence would survive beyond this.

'No, Cerine, I cannot let you do this. I love you too much.'

'You must, Dareon... These vessels are not ours. They have their own essence.' She wrapped her hands around his waist, holding him close. 'You stole my heart the first time we met. It shall never belong to another.'

'And I shall keep it with me always. There shall be no other.'

'Dareon?'

'Yes, my love?'

'Kiss me once more, so that I might remember it for all eternity?'

Dareon grabbed her hard, pressing his lips to hers. They were not the same soft lips he remembered from their old vessels, but the memories of this vessel flooded his mind. He knew every inch of flesh as if he'd touched it a thousand times, feeling their heat pressed together, remembering each and every moment they'd done this.

When they pulled apart, Cerine turned to the other three. 'I am ready now.'

 

'This one is too big,' Dareon complained, trying to squeeze back into the pod, made all the more difficult by having Cerine trying to also fit in. Easy as it would have been to transfer Dareon back to the ship first, neither one could bear to watch the other leave. They would do this together or not at all, even though Cerine knew what it meant for her. The others were equally tense, praying that both their friends would also survive the process.

Dareon stopped Tosh, as she reached in to adjust one of the dials.

'Please tell this one I thank him for all that he has done for us.'

'He already knows,' Tosh replied, 'but yes, I shall tell him.'

'Everything ready to go, Tosh?' Owen barked.

'I think, yes, I think that's everything,' Tosh said, reviewing the data over and over again. Taking the consciousness out of the data core had been the easy part. Putting it back in without interfering with Jack and Ianto's own brainwaves was far trickier.

'I've isolated the two signals,' she reported.

Owen checked her readings, confirming she had the right ones. 'If Teaboy forgets how to make proper coffee, I'm blaming you,' he teased.

Cerine reached out of the hatch door and grabbed Gwen's hand as she passed. 'Thank you.' Gwen squeezed back, fighting the urge to tear up again.

'Let go, Gwen,' Owen ordered, 'unless you want a one way trip.' She quickly backed away, and then the ship began to hum again.

Dareon turned to face his lover.

'I love you with all my heart.'

'And I love you.'

There was a brief flash of light and then the humming faded into nothingness. The three of them held their breath for what felt like an eternity.

'Ow,' came the groan from Jack.

'Oh, well this is cosy,' Ianto replied.

'Jack? Ianto? Is that you?' Gwen called.

Jack turned his head, finding it almost pressed up against Ianto's. 'Ianto? Are you, you?' Jack asked.

'Funny, I was going to ask you the same thing, but only after you explained to me how we both ended up squished in here.'

With a lot of wriggling and grunting, they eventually detached themselves, stumbling into a heap on the floor by the open hatch, before picking themselves up and dusting themselves off.

'Alright,' Owen said, 'I just need to check-' Jack held up a finger, effectively silencing him.

'One thing I need to do first,' Jack said, enveloping Ianto in a kiss that lasted until they both ran out of breath.

'You were saying, Owen?' Jack asked.

Owen rolled his eyes. 'Think that just proves that you're both back to normal. Come see me in an hour when you've gotten that out of your system,' he said, leaving the room. Tosh and Gwen were right on his tail, though they couldn't keep the smiles off their faces.

'So, Mr Jones, it's just you and me, and this very lovely little bed,' he declared, leaning in for another kiss. Ianto dodged him.

'She's gone, isn't she?'

'It was her choice,' he replied. 'But she got the chance to say goodbye to her lover. It's more than some ever get.' He wondered if he'd get the same opportunity when he finally had to let Ianto go.

'I understand,' Ianto replied, knowing that he would have done the same if their roles had been reversed. 'What will happen to him?'

'A few more tweaks and the ship should be airworthy again. Tosh can triangulate a course that will send him back home.'

'How far away is it?'

'Thirteen million light years. But, he'll be in the data core, so it'll be as if no time at all has passed when they restore him into a new body.'

'A millisecond or millenia, it'll still hurt, losing the one you love,' Ianto said, sounding utterly despondent.

'Yeah,' Jack agreed, pulling him close to his chest. 'It will. We're all living on borrowed time.'

'Not you, though,' Ianto said, his voice muffled against Jack's shirt.

'Not me,' Jack agreed, 'but it still hurts.' He buried his face in Ianto's hair. 'Promise me something?'

'Anything.'

'Promise me you'll never let anything take you away from me.'

'I promise.' He didn't think it was a promise he could keep. Death was like a thief in the night, always hiding in the shadows, waiting for him, but he'd try.


End file.
